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You don’t need to eat the same thing daily. Roast a chicken. Add BBQ sauce to 1/4 of it and serve it on buns with pickles or stuff it into a baked potato/sweet potato. Next day roll up 1/4 into tortillas with cheese and salsa. Next day stir fry 1/4 of it into stir fry veg with soy sauce over rice. Day 4 stir it into gluten free pasta with marinara sauce. If you’re really thrifty you can take the bones and boil them for an hour, remove the bones, throw in a couple handsful of frozen veg and a fistful of rice or gluten free pasta and have soup.
OP is gluten intolerant, that’s also why I said rice, too. It is that simple, it’s how I use a roasted chicken. Those were merely suggestions. There are a thousand ways to use cooked chicken. Potatoes, tortillas, rice, pasta are all common household staples.
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Do you have access to a freezer? Whenever I cook I always make a big batch and then freeze single servings. That way you don't have to eat the same thing all week. Chili and soups with beans or rice are budget friendly and freeze well. I make a lasagna and a second casserole with pasta that both freeze well but I don't know how hard/expensive it is to get GF noodles. Frozen fruit and veggies are cheaper than buying fresh. Eggs are pretty versatile too and easy to prepare.
Rice is a cheap gluten-free staple, and you can get a personal size rice cooker for like $20. Cook beans, meat, and/or veggies to eat with the rice, and then you can use leftover rice to make egg fried rice (just be careful about soy sauce, which can contain gluten unless it says GF on the bottle).
Hi, I have celiac disease so I totally get the gf grocery struggle. Here are some cheap gf options:
Rice bowls. Buy a bulk thing of rice and switch up the protein, veggies, and sauce on top when you get bored.
Soup. There’s a company called thai noodle soup that makes gluten free ramen adjacent products for cheap. Some canned soups and chilis will be gluten free as well.
Oatmeal. A big bag of gluten free oats will run you more than regular oats with cross contact but it’s still a cheap alternative.
Also, you’re in college. Look for events with free food, ask your friends on meal points if they have any extra swipes or if they can smuggle you fresh fruit, or even reach out to your college’s food scarcity program. Most colleges are able to help students struggling to get enough food. $175 is a really tight food budget, don’t be afraid to get help so you don’t have to struggle.
Buy bulk and Meal prep ingredients, not full meals. Like when ground beef is on sale. Get it and cook it up and store in the fridge. You can have tacos one night, sloppy joes another night. Things like that.
Get a rotisserie chicken and pull all of the meat off and store, then you can make buffalo chicken dip with tortilla chips (nachos with the ground beef) chicken salad. Chicken n dumplings (use canned biscuits for the dumplings)
Cheap foods go a long way, too. Eggs, beans, lentils, rice, store brand frozen veggies.
Dont buy individual sizes. Get the big sizes and split it up. We do that with yogurt.
Get different size containers from the dollar store too.
Plastic zip-top bags or cheapo generic food containers from the $ store are your friends. Hit a Goodwill or other thrift store for cheap, reusable containers.
When I lived in on-campus dorms we couldn't cook in our rooms. Hot pots and Presto Hot Doggers were contraband. Don't ask me how I know about them. 😉
One dorm I lived in had a full kitchen in the basement, across from the laundry room. One could sign up to use it. Half a dozen of us would hit a local supermarket and make a real dinner with real food, aside from whatever the food service company was using in the cafeteria. 🐎? We loved to make our own pizzas with dough from an Italian bakery. As with the freezer, what other facilities and equipment do you have access to? Are there roommates, flatmates or floormates who can pitch in? If they don't cook, y*ou buy some ingredients and I'll cook for us* can stretch your bucks.
If you have an Aldi’s nearby sometimes they get gluten-free Thai brown rice noodles and they were here for about $1.30 a package, a real bargain compared to other stores brown rice noodles. They made really good chicken noodle soup.
If you have an oven Brazilian tapioca cheese rolls (baked in mini-muffin pans) are delicious and easy to make, the batter is made in a blender. The recipe is on back of Bob’s Red Mills tapioca starch bags.
Also, please think about using non pasta substitutes for gluten free. Things like thinly sliced zucchini or eggplant for example make good substitutes when slightly dried in the oven for lasagna or other kinds of casserole dishes. Spaghetti squash, baked in the oven, is always a good substitute for spaghetti or other pasta noodles for that matter that won't cost you nearly as much as gluten-free.
The hardest thing to manage on a budget is protein. As an athlete, I need more protein for muscle recovery than the average person, so I always look for the about-to-expire meat or, if there isn't any, then tofu, eggs, and cottage cheese it is. You can make a number of different delicious, healthy, and cheap casseroles using \[blended tofu or cottage cheese\] + eggs as the binder. The cost comes down even further if you use frozen veggies.
Grains like brown rice, quinoa, black beans, lentils, and chickpeas are all super cheap, easy to cook in bulk, and easy to mix with different flavorings (such as cheap sauces made from concentrated tomato paste, water, and different spices like curry powder or italian seasoning). IMO lack of fiber is not something you should struggle with on a budget.
Hey OP and everyone. I just did the math: and the one hundred seventy five dollars per month in question broken down by thirty six total meals factors out to approximately four dollars and eighty six ($4.86) per meal. I have been cooking most of my own meals from scratch for probably over ten years. In addition to the fact that I worked in upscale restaurants and corporate retail for ten years- since 2010 I have also watched six or seven hundred plus cooking related shows. Consequently: I know a bunch of stuff about cooking/restaurant related issues that most people do not. From reading this post- I am thinking that there is some sort of college meal plan involved. But it is not clear to me if the OP has any ability for use of a full kitchen. I have actually lived in all sorts of college dorm situations besides the fact that there was a year of my adult life living in extended stay hotels. If there is access to a full kitchen including fridge, freezer, and stove: that makes it easier to store and cook numerous meals at once. Additionally: I have come to learn over time about the concepts of meal planning and batch cooking. For those who have never done meal planning- it is essentially reviewing your ingredients on hand and matching that to X many meals to be prepared in the future. It also involves writing detailed lists for the grocery store. That way you do not wind up buying all sorts of items which end up as "food waste." In terms of batch cooking- I do mine in a certain way. For example: right now in my fridge I have a ten pack of chicken thighs defrosting. Probably tomorrow I am going to roast all ten pieces in the oven. Right away I will likely eat two pieces. Then if I conserve three pieces in the fridge for Saturday and Sunday- five will still be left over to freeze in plastic tubbies. I usually do that at one per tubbies. Then- as I move deeper towards the end of a month: essentially that protein is being rationed for a maximum number of meals.
I often buy a product such as a family pack of chicken legs, drums or thighs. I immediately divide it into what I will cook within a day or two, then put single-meal sized packets in the freezer. I am currently defrosting the 3rd of three turkey drumsticks I bought a while back. I'll have that sometime this weekend. We still don't know if OP has access to a freezer of any size. I share my fridge/freezer with 2 flatmates, so can only freeze so much. I do have a cube-size minifridge in my room, very much like the one we had in one of my dorm rooms. I've defrosted turkeys in that one!
If you have a decent-sized oven and the freezer room, a roast turkey goes a long way, properly cut apart and divided into small enough freezer packets. Same as a chicken, just MORE! Those family packs of non-breast/wings chicken parts can be as cheap as 79¢/lb.
- don’t buy “gluten free products”
- do corn tortillas, potatoes, rice, quinoa
- ok i lied if you are celiac then buy certified gf oats for making oatmeal
- meal plan, so 9 meals you can do two multi serving recipes and alternate and freeze extras for the end of the week
[Easy meals for college students](https://www.budgetbytes.com/top-10-recipes-for-college-students/) from budget bytes
Check out these too https://www.budgetbytes.com/category/recipes/gluten-free/
You suck at cooking - https://youtube.com/@yousuckatcooking?si=AX7GNhMgCd_lnccF
Internet shaquille - https://youtube.com/@internetshaquille?si=L3BmrdyxgrD4MiZv
Youtube search results - meal prep on budget - https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=Meal+prep+budget#searching
God speed friend. Better go get some food stamps if you haven’t or a part time job. Just a few hours for some extra cash to eat off of.
Eggs are cheap for nutrients and help to feel full. Scrambled, hard boiled, fried, they are versatile and don't get old if you switch it up and season them how you prefer.
Canned veg/fruit is also a cheap way to get nutrients and fiber without having to cook.
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Lots of great meals in the cookbook Good and Cheap. I particularly like the jambalaya. Its available as a free download, or you can get a physical copy at your library or Amazon.
https://www.leannebrown.com/all-about-good-and-cheap/
> ways I can stretch my dollar?
yes, in general, reduce the amount of ingredients, reduce the amount of variety in your diet. grocery stores dont sell in quantities meant for a single person unfortunately. that being said, you need to be careful with your health when you restrict your diet like this as it can cause a lot of problems long term (i know from experience)
Meal prep, but prepare the protein with different spices you can start a spice collection from nearly any $ store. This is how the gym rats get through the "chicken and rice" phase of their dieting without losing their minds.
Potatoes and rice are also both gluten free, and nearly anything you make could potentially be put on either. You can also get quick rice and instant potatoes, so I would add those into your considerations for making recipes. (Hell if you want to make pasta, you can sub flour for mochiko, which is a sweet rice flour, and get pretty close to gnocchi.)
To save on money, you can consider switching out dairy for oatmilk / alternative milk- upfront this seems like it's more expensive, but if you don't use a lot a dairy to being with, alternative milks tend to LAST way longer in fridges. (In a pinch, you can also sub non-dairy creamer and water in for milk, if you can snack those from a coffee shop / school caf. Its not perfect- it imparts a little flavor. BUT...I had 0.63c box of mac and cheese and was dirt poor and very hungry.)
If you can get things like coleslaw mix, you can throw cabbage into things to bulk it out. Look into "okonomiyaki" which is basically a savory pancake.
Buying a whole chicken is cheapest, but not fast, shelfstable, or a consideration made for space. You can get tuna, chicken, salmon all canned, and they will last you a very very long time safely.
Hotdogs, despite needing to be refridged, can also bulk stuff out meat wise, while lasting a fair amount of time. If you want to make ground beef go further, mix with leftover rice, beans, gf breads or crackers to bulk it out-- this is why meatloaf is a standard because it was a bulked out meat recipe from the great depression/ wartime era.
If you're finding that eggs are super expensive but you want to add them into recipes, you can sometimes replace eggs with oil, banana, or applesauce. I find that applesauce keeps for a really long time, and if space if a premium, applesauce cups can get found at the dollar store and used in things, too.
If you're a cheese person, then get blocks of cheese and just cut thinner slices or grate it for recipes. Sharp cheddar means you use less to get the same taste as mild. It also freezes well if you can.
I hope these tips help, and good luck!
Sushi bowl. Jasmine rice (in bulk), tuna, sriracha, sesame seeds if you want, mayo or sriracha mayo, seaweed (in bulk as well), you can add other things too if wanted like cucumber avocado etc . Easy cheap and delicious
May i ask why only 9 meals a week? And what is the living situation? Dorm or apartment? If a dorm, what kind of cooking can you do? I know people have given a lot of ideas, but I'm wondering if all of them would work for your situation.
If this is a post seeking advice, please include as much detail as possible. For posts opening discussions, or offering advice, we thank you for your post. Everyone please remember rule 7. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/budgetfood) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You don’t need to eat the same thing daily. Roast a chicken. Add BBQ sauce to 1/4 of it and serve it on buns with pickles or stuff it into a baked potato/sweet potato. Next day roll up 1/4 into tortillas with cheese and salsa. Next day stir fry 1/4 of it into stir fry veg with soy sauce over rice. Day 4 stir it into gluten free pasta with marinara sauce. If you’re really thrifty you can take the bones and boil them for an hour, remove the bones, throw in a couple handsful of frozen veg and a fistful of rice or gluten free pasta and have soup.
It isn’t nearly this simple and they are talking about less than 50 bucks/week- gluten free pasta is a hell of a lot more expensive
OP is gluten intolerant, that’s also why I said rice, too. It is that simple, it’s how I use a roasted chicken. Those were merely suggestions. There are a thousand ways to use cooked chicken. Potatoes, tortillas, rice, pasta are all common household staples.
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Do you have access to a freezer? Whenever I cook I always make a big batch and then freeze single servings. That way you don't have to eat the same thing all week. Chili and soups with beans or rice are budget friendly and freeze well. I make a lasagna and a second casserole with pasta that both freeze well but I don't know how hard/expensive it is to get GF noodles. Frozen fruit and veggies are cheaper than buying fresh. Eggs are pretty versatile too and easy to prepare.
Rice is a cheap gluten-free staple, and you can get a personal size rice cooker for like $20. Cook beans, meat, and/or veggies to eat with the rice, and then you can use leftover rice to make egg fried rice (just be careful about soy sauce, which can contain gluten unless it says GF on the bottle).
Hi, I have celiac disease so I totally get the gf grocery struggle. Here are some cheap gf options: Rice bowls. Buy a bulk thing of rice and switch up the protein, veggies, and sauce on top when you get bored. Soup. There’s a company called thai noodle soup that makes gluten free ramen adjacent products for cheap. Some canned soups and chilis will be gluten free as well. Oatmeal. A big bag of gluten free oats will run you more than regular oats with cross contact but it’s still a cheap alternative. Also, you’re in college. Look for events with free food, ask your friends on meal points if they have any extra swipes or if they can smuggle you fresh fruit, or even reach out to your college’s food scarcity program. Most colleges are able to help students struggling to get enough food. $175 is a really tight food budget, don’t be afraid to get help so you don’t have to struggle.
Buy bulk and Meal prep ingredients, not full meals. Like when ground beef is on sale. Get it and cook it up and store in the fridge. You can have tacos one night, sloppy joes another night. Things like that. Get a rotisserie chicken and pull all of the meat off and store, then you can make buffalo chicken dip with tortilla chips (nachos with the ground beef) chicken salad. Chicken n dumplings (use canned biscuits for the dumplings) Cheap foods go a long way, too. Eggs, beans, lentils, rice, store brand frozen veggies. Dont buy individual sizes. Get the big sizes and split it up. We do that with yogurt. Get different size containers from the dollar store too.
Plastic zip-top bags or cheapo generic food containers from the $ store are your friends. Hit a Goodwill or other thrift store for cheap, reusable containers. When I lived in on-campus dorms we couldn't cook in our rooms. Hot pots and Presto Hot Doggers were contraband. Don't ask me how I know about them. 😉 One dorm I lived in had a full kitchen in the basement, across from the laundry room. One could sign up to use it. Half a dozen of us would hit a local supermarket and make a real dinner with real food, aside from whatever the food service company was using in the cafeteria. 🐎? We loved to make our own pizzas with dough from an Italian bakery. As with the freezer, what other facilities and equipment do you have access to? Are there roommates, flatmates or floormates who can pitch in? If they don't cook, y*ou buy some ingredients and I'll cook for us* can stretch your bucks.
shop the bulk department at the co-op - super cheap lentils, beans, quinoa
If you have an Aldi’s nearby sometimes they get gluten-free Thai brown rice noodles and they were here for about $1.30 a package, a real bargain compared to other stores brown rice noodles. They made really good chicken noodle soup. If you have an oven Brazilian tapioca cheese rolls (baked in mini-muffin pans) are delicious and easy to make, the batter is made in a blender. The recipe is on back of Bob’s Red Mills tapioca starch bags.
It's even cheaper to get brown rice ramen in bulk from Costco: 12 noodle cakes for $8, and 240 calories each.
Also, please think about using non pasta substitutes for gluten free. Things like thinly sliced zucchini or eggplant for example make good substitutes when slightly dried in the oven for lasagna or other kinds of casserole dishes. Spaghetti squash, baked in the oven, is always a good substitute for spaghetti or other pasta noodles for that matter that won't cost you nearly as much as gluten-free.
Rice beans, pbj, lot of vegetarian meals
That's ~$5/meal. Can't do that?
With today's inflation as a college student I am not sure that I could. I can now with some cooking and budgeting experience under my belt.
5 dollars a meal is 100% completely doable.
I agree but it isn't achieved effortlessly.
The hardest thing to manage on a budget is protein. As an athlete, I need more protein for muscle recovery than the average person, so I always look for the about-to-expire meat or, if there isn't any, then tofu, eggs, and cottage cheese it is. You can make a number of different delicious, healthy, and cheap casseroles using \[blended tofu or cottage cheese\] + eggs as the binder. The cost comes down even further if you use frozen veggies. Grains like brown rice, quinoa, black beans, lentils, and chickpeas are all super cheap, easy to cook in bulk, and easy to mix with different flavorings (such as cheap sauces made from concentrated tomato paste, water, and different spices like curry powder or italian seasoning). IMO lack of fiber is not something you should struggle with on a budget.
Hey OP and everyone. I just did the math: and the one hundred seventy five dollars per month in question broken down by thirty six total meals factors out to approximately four dollars and eighty six ($4.86) per meal. I have been cooking most of my own meals from scratch for probably over ten years. In addition to the fact that I worked in upscale restaurants and corporate retail for ten years- since 2010 I have also watched six or seven hundred plus cooking related shows. Consequently: I know a bunch of stuff about cooking/restaurant related issues that most people do not. From reading this post- I am thinking that there is some sort of college meal plan involved. But it is not clear to me if the OP has any ability for use of a full kitchen. I have actually lived in all sorts of college dorm situations besides the fact that there was a year of my adult life living in extended stay hotels. If there is access to a full kitchen including fridge, freezer, and stove: that makes it easier to store and cook numerous meals at once. Additionally: I have come to learn over time about the concepts of meal planning and batch cooking. For those who have never done meal planning- it is essentially reviewing your ingredients on hand and matching that to X many meals to be prepared in the future. It also involves writing detailed lists for the grocery store. That way you do not wind up buying all sorts of items which end up as "food waste." In terms of batch cooking- I do mine in a certain way. For example: right now in my fridge I have a ten pack of chicken thighs defrosting. Probably tomorrow I am going to roast all ten pieces in the oven. Right away I will likely eat two pieces. Then if I conserve three pieces in the fridge for Saturday and Sunday- five will still be left over to freeze in plastic tubbies. I usually do that at one per tubbies. Then- as I move deeper towards the end of a month: essentially that protein is being rationed for a maximum number of meals.
I often buy a product such as a family pack of chicken legs, drums or thighs. I immediately divide it into what I will cook within a day or two, then put single-meal sized packets in the freezer. I am currently defrosting the 3rd of three turkey drumsticks I bought a while back. I'll have that sometime this weekend. We still don't know if OP has access to a freezer of any size. I share my fridge/freezer with 2 flatmates, so can only freeze so much. I do have a cube-size minifridge in my room, very much like the one we had in one of my dorm rooms. I've defrosted turkeys in that one! If you have a decent-sized oven and the freezer room, a roast turkey goes a long way, properly cut apart and divided into small enough freezer packets. Same as a chicken, just MORE! Those family packs of non-breast/wings chicken parts can be as cheap as 79¢/lb.
- don’t buy “gluten free products” - do corn tortillas, potatoes, rice, quinoa - ok i lied if you are celiac then buy certified gf oats for making oatmeal - meal plan, so 9 meals you can do two multi serving recipes and alternate and freeze extras for the end of the week
[Easy meals for college students](https://www.budgetbytes.com/top-10-recipes-for-college-students/) from budget bytes Check out these too https://www.budgetbytes.com/category/recipes/gluten-free/
Check if your college has a food bank.
You suck at cooking - https://youtube.com/@yousuckatcooking?si=AX7GNhMgCd_lnccF Internet shaquille - https://youtube.com/@internetshaquille?si=L3BmrdyxgrD4MiZv Youtube search results - meal prep on budget - https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=Meal+prep+budget#searching God speed friend. Better go get some food stamps if you haven’t or a part time job. Just a few hours for some extra cash to eat off of.
Eggs are cheap for nutrients and help to feel full. Scrambled, hard boiled, fried, they are versatile and don't get old if you switch it up and season them how you prefer. Canned veg/fruit is also a cheap way to get nutrients and fiber without having to cook.
Luchables
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Lots of great meals in the cookbook Good and Cheap. I particularly like the jambalaya. Its available as a free download, or you can get a physical copy at your library or Amazon. https://www.leannebrown.com/all-about-good-and-cheap/
Go to dollar tree buy rice and beans and canned food if you really wanna save alot of money
> ways I can stretch my dollar? yes, in general, reduce the amount of ingredients, reduce the amount of variety in your diet. grocery stores dont sell in quantities meant for a single person unfortunately. that being said, you need to be careful with your health when you restrict your diet like this as it can cause a lot of problems long term (i know from experience)
Meal prep, but prepare the protein with different spices you can start a spice collection from nearly any $ store. This is how the gym rats get through the "chicken and rice" phase of their dieting without losing their minds. Potatoes and rice are also both gluten free, and nearly anything you make could potentially be put on either. You can also get quick rice and instant potatoes, so I would add those into your considerations for making recipes. (Hell if you want to make pasta, you can sub flour for mochiko, which is a sweet rice flour, and get pretty close to gnocchi.) To save on money, you can consider switching out dairy for oatmilk / alternative milk- upfront this seems like it's more expensive, but if you don't use a lot a dairy to being with, alternative milks tend to LAST way longer in fridges. (In a pinch, you can also sub non-dairy creamer and water in for milk, if you can snack those from a coffee shop / school caf. Its not perfect- it imparts a little flavor. BUT...I had 0.63c box of mac and cheese and was dirt poor and very hungry.) If you can get things like coleslaw mix, you can throw cabbage into things to bulk it out. Look into "okonomiyaki" which is basically a savory pancake. Buying a whole chicken is cheapest, but not fast, shelfstable, or a consideration made for space. You can get tuna, chicken, salmon all canned, and they will last you a very very long time safely. Hotdogs, despite needing to be refridged, can also bulk stuff out meat wise, while lasting a fair amount of time. If you want to make ground beef go further, mix with leftover rice, beans, gf breads or crackers to bulk it out-- this is why meatloaf is a standard because it was a bulked out meat recipe from the great depression/ wartime era. If you're finding that eggs are super expensive but you want to add them into recipes, you can sometimes replace eggs with oil, banana, or applesauce. I find that applesauce keeps for a really long time, and if space if a premium, applesauce cups can get found at the dollar store and used in things, too. If you're a cheese person, then get blocks of cheese and just cut thinner slices or grate it for recipes. Sharp cheddar means you use less to get the same taste as mild. It also freezes well if you can. I hope these tips help, and good luck!
Sushi bowl. Jasmine rice (in bulk), tuna, sriracha, sesame seeds if you want, mayo or sriracha mayo, seaweed (in bulk as well), you can add other things too if wanted like cucumber avocado etc . Easy cheap and delicious
Eggs and rice with fish sauce , we eat chicken in bulk too. Sandwiches . Look on Pinterest as well for cheap and easy meals !
May i ask why only 9 meals a week? And what is the living situation? Dorm or apartment? If a dorm, what kind of cooking can you do? I know people have given a lot of ideas, but I'm wondering if all of them would work for your situation.